School Children in Kyoto

I just returned to Tokyo from a nice trip to Kyoto where I saw a lot of beautiful temples, shrines, and gardens. I also saw a lot of school children from all over Japan who were there on school trips. I had a lot of fun talking with them. They would come up to me in small groups and were very excited to try out their English on me. I was happy to see that they weren’t afraid to speak in English. Even though most of them didn’t know many words in English, they still tried their best to communicate. It reminded me of a trip I took to Kyoto 20 years ago and of meeting many groups of school children there at that time, as well, but those children were more afraid of speaking to me in English than the ones I met on this trip. I was happy to see the change in both the children’s willingness to speak to foreigners and also in their improved English ability. I think that the increased emphasis on English education in elementary and junior high schools in Japan is producing excellent results.